The commercial slaughter of animals to provide meat for human consumption is a carefully controlled process. Many meat processors use sophisticated tracking systems within their processing plants to enable the processor to track individual animals throughout the processing. In this way it is possible to address consumer concerns regarding the safety of animal processing by ensuring that each animal that enters the processing line is subjected to all of the necessary stages in the process.
A typical animal slaughtering process comprises stunning, weighing and bleeding an animal. U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,656 discloses an animal slaughtering process that also includes a step of rinsing blood from the circulatory system of an animal using the so called “Rinse and Chill™ technique”. In this process, an animal is stunned following which it is hung on a shackle on an overhead rail or similar processing line. The stunned animal is then associated with a uniquely identifiable tag so that the progress of each animal through the bleeding and rinsing stages of the slaughtering process can be monitored. In some processing plants a radio frequency identification (‘RFID’) tag containing a unique identification code is fixed to the animal or shackle. After stunning and tagging, the animal is conveyed on the overhead rail to a weigh station where it is weighed. The weight of the animal is then recorded and is correlated with the unique identification code for that animal.
After weighing, the animal is moved on the overhead rail to a bleed station where an incision is made in the neck to bleed the animal. Following bleeding, the animal is moved on the overhead rail to a rinse station where a rinse solution is introduced into the circulatory system of the animal to rinse out blood that has not drained out of the circulatory system. To do this, a catheter or nozzle is usually inserted into an artery or vein of the animal. The rinse solution is then injected through the nozzle into the circulatory system of the animal whereby the solution forces residual blood out of the animal. The volume of solution that is rinsed through the animal is predetermined and may be based on the weight of the animal. The administration of solution is carefully monitored and controlled. The weighing, bleeding and rinsing stages of the process are typically computer controlled and the RFID tag containing a unique identification code plays an important role in the process.
The aforementioned process is carried out on commercial scale whereby hundreds of animals may be processed per hour in a typical processing plant. On such a scale it is important that the process be as efficient as possible. However, whilst there is a need for efficiency in the process, there is also a need to carry out the process under strict guidelines in order to meet health regulations and consumer expectations and concerns. The processing of animals on a commercial scale is therefore a balance between minimising the processing time and cost in order to maximise efficiency, and maximising control of the process in order to comply with health regulations and consumer expectations.
The present invention provides a process that is able to improve the efficiency of currently used commercial animal slaughter processes that involve weighing and/or bleeding and rinsing of the animals.
All references, including any patents or patent documents, cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference. However, no admission is made that any reference, including any patent or patent document, cited in this specification constitutes prior art. In particular, it will be understood that, unless otherwise stated, reference to any document herein does not constitute an admission that any of these documents forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in any country.